The Use of CALL as a Means of Reducing Anxiety of Students Studying Abroad

Studying abroad in an English speaking country is something that many Japanese students wish to do during their university life. Yet, these students can often find themselves underprepared and anxious about the English required for life in foreign countries. This paper will at first demonstrate what anxieties are felt by students, and then illustrate a case study of one study abroad program that has used computer assisted language learning (CALL) in an attempt to reduce anxiety and lesson the gap between the English classroom in Japan, and what students experience in an English speaking country. By using readily available and inexpensive online technology, students were exposed to authentic English input in the form of online videos, could practice speaking English as spoken by native speakers, and gain instant feedback on their current English competence level. This paper will finish by suggesting further methods in which the gap between classroom study in Japan and English language learning in foreign countries can be reduced.